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Sunday, 8 June 2014

X Games Austin Rallycross - Semi-finals and Final report

Semi-Final 1A

Row 1 - Nelson Piquet Jr., Austin Dyne, Ken Block

Row 2 - Ricky Johnson, Brian Deegan, Liam Doran

In the first semi-final Ken Block made another poor start.
He would not make the end of the race. Meanwhile, Liam Doran launched into the
lead from the second row of the grid, fighting past Nelson Piquet Jr. and
Austin Dyne to take the lead.

Doran was untouchable from then on as Dyne, Deegan and Piquet
diced together for the last two final spots. It was Austin Dyne who eventually
finished second behind Doran with Deegan finishing third on the road. However,
a penalty for aggressive driving saw his spot in the final go to Nelson Piquet
Jr.

Semi-Final 1B

Row 1 - Bucky Lasek, Patrik Sandell, Scott Speed

Row 2 - Steve Arpin, Emma Gilmour, Travis Pastrana

In the second semi-final Scott Speed once again made a clean
start to lead from the off, Patrik Sandell followed in second with the Subarus
of Bucky Lasek and Travis Pastrana behind. Emma Gilmour stalled at the start,
eliminating her chances of a place in the final.

Unlike the dramatic first semi-final, the positions in the second didn’t change
and Speed won with Sandell and Lasek joining the ex-F1 driver in the final

Final

Row 1 - Patrik Sandell, Liam Doran, Scott Speed

Row 2 - Nelson Piquet Jr., Bucky Lasek, Austin Dyne

The final ended up being just as exciting as the rest of the
days races. Once again Speed made an excellent startfrom the front row to lead out of the first
turn, Piquet Jr. lpowered through fromt eh second row on the grid to take third
whilst Doran made the most of his front row starting spot to emerge from turn
one in second.

Behind the leading trio Sandell made contact with Austin
Dyne, eliminating him from the race and bringing out the fifth red flag of the
day. Dyne wasn’t the only driver eliminated, with Sandell being withdrawn from
the race after being judged to have caused the contact between himself and
Dyne.

On the restart, Speed made the most of Doran running very
wide to once again assume a commanding lead whilst Piquet moved up to second.
Despite bogging down at the start, Bucky Lasek moved up to third as a result of
Doran’s trip into the gravel. Lasek later gained on Piquet Jr. who looked to be
closing in on Speed.

On lap seven of the ten lap race Piquet Jr. was black
flagged for taking the joker lap twice. The result of that was a five second
stop/go penalty which allowed Doran to move back into a medal spot in third.

Speed took the win ahead of Lasek who scored his first Red
Bull Global Rallycross podium in second. The drama of the day was far from over
though as Liam Doran spun at the final corner allowing Nelson Piquet Jr. to
make up the ground he lost with his penalty to snatch third place and the
bronze medal from the Brit.